Monday, July 19, 2010

Crist's Choice

We're going to have new Florida Senate numbers out tomorrow.

One thing we asked on the poll was whether people thought Charlie Crist should caucus with the Democrats or Republicans if he was elected. 43% of respondents said he should go with the Democrats and 37% with the Republicans.

Perhaps more interesting was what those planning to vote for Crist had to say. Within that group 55% said he should caucus with the Democrats to only 22% who expressed the opinion that he should join forces with the Republicans.

If Crist gets elected and wants to follow the will of those who put him in the Senate he's going to side with the Democrats.

9 comments:

RC
said...

If Democratic voters suspect that Crist would caucus with the GOP, his support among Dems would crater. Crist has to decide whether he wants lose or to win this race. He wins with Dems and Independents.

This could cause the Democrats to rally around Crist instead of Meek. It's also something the Republicans can use against Crist, saying that a vote for Crist is no different from a vote for the Democrat in the race.

A primary win by Greene could have an effect here, though. From what I've been reading, Greene gets more support among Democrats against Crist and Rubio than Meek does.

This is one of the most disheartening developments of this year's campaign. Marco Rubio is a fantastic candidate for the GOP. Young. Charismatic. Conservative. Not white. Yet Crist turncoats and could very well end up winning. Charlie Crist is exactly what is wrong with Washington. He's the next Arlen Specter.

That's pretty much the Republican Party's problem right there in a nutshell. "Marco Rubio is a fantastic candidate for the GOP. Young. Charismatic. Conservative. Not white." They think that's all it takes. 'Sane' isn't a requirement, nor 'intelligent,' nor 'capable,' just somebody who can smile nicely and keep his face straight while claiming his party isn't functionally monocultural. If he represents the Republican dream candidate and he's never broken 35% in credible polling, that ought to be a sign to Republicans that they're out of sync with what everyone else wants.

Rubio, Paul, Toomey, Angle, and Buck - all five took races that were easy Republican pickups or holds and turned them into competitive races, if not outright Democratic leads. All five on downward trajectories. Any one of them losing ought to tell Republicans that they're pushing the limits of what voters will tolerate even in the best Republican environment in decades, but when all five lose the crazed radical teabaggers will take it to mean that even those nutjobs weren't extreme enough and demand even more lunacy in 2012. Go for it, teabaggers! Take out Brown and Snowe in primaries in 2012!